04-04-2006, 06:01 PM
President Jacques Chirac signed it into law, and then suspended it so it can be reworked a bit. As I understand it, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin devised this bill which allows businesses to fire young workers under 26 years of age in the first two years of employment with the company without needing to show cause. Sort of like the normal 90 day probationary tryout period that most companies use before committing to a full-time hire, but stretched out to two years.
This is done to improve the poor job market in France. Without explaining the reasons behind it, the national statistics agency said it would create up to 80,000 new jobs at zero cost to the state. The youth unemployment rate is 22 percent in France - up to 50 percent in poor, heavily immigrant neighborhoods.
The only thing I can see it doing is to bolster the employer's bottom line by taking jobs away from workers who have worked for almost two years, just when they are senior enough to start expecting pay raises to compensate for their experience - and then giving these jobs to new hires at the lowest prevailing salary possible. I have no clue how this increases the number of jobs.
This is done to improve the poor job market in France. Without explaining the reasons behind it, the national statistics agency said it would create up to 80,000 new jobs at zero cost to the state. The youth unemployment rate is 22 percent in France - up to 50 percent in poor, heavily immigrant neighborhoods.
The only thing I can see it doing is to bolster the employer's bottom line by taking jobs away from workers who have worked for almost two years, just when they are senior enough to start expecting pay raises to compensate for their experience - and then giving these jobs to new hires at the lowest prevailing salary possible. I have no clue how this increases the number of jobs.
